A Face in the Dark
A FACE IN THE DARK
A FACE IN THE DARK IN DETAILS:
Here I shall give you a detailed summary of the story, A Face in the Dark.
SIGNIFICANCE OF PINE FOREST
The setting of the story is on a dark and windy night. We find the protagonist of the story, Mr. Oliver walking through the pine forest to return to his school. Mr. Oliver, who was an Anglo-Indian, was teaching for several years in a school on the outskirts of Simla. Most of the students belonged to wealthy Indian families.
SIGNIFICANCE OF PINE FOREST
Once the school was even termed in the Life magazine as “Eton of the East”. The Bazaar of Simla was almost three miles away from the school. Bachelor Mr. Oliver passed his leisure hours in the town in the evening and return after it was dark. He used to take a short cut which was through a pine forest.
SIGNIFICANCE OF PINE FOREST
On windy evenings, a peculiar melancholic sound came from the pine forest that prevented the people from entering it. Since Mr. Oliver was not at all a nervous sort of a man, and he always carried a big torch with him, he entered into the forest.
SIGNIFICANCE OF PINE FOREST IN A Face in the Dark
As for Mr. Oliver was walking down the narrow path, his eyes suddenly caught a form of a boy sitting on a rock, all alone. Oliver was much surprised to see the boy at that time of night since the school did not allow the boys to stay out after it was dark. As he approached the boy, he inquired what he was doing. He saw the boy sobbing with his head buried in his hands. And this surprised Mr. Oliver.
SIGNIFICANCE OF PINE FOREST
The eerie, soundless sobbing of the boy made Oliver feel uneasy. Mr. Oliver questioned the boy but received no reply. He kept on urging the boy to look up and speak. When the boy ultimately looked up Mr. Oliver was stunned. Mr. Oliver’s torchlight fell on the boy’s face if one could call it a face at all. It was nothing but a featureless round without any eyes, ears, nose, or mouth.
SIGNIFICANCE OF PINE FOREST IN A Face in the Dark
But Mr. Oliver was not a nervous sort of a man. He did not faint; only his hands trembled and the torch fell. He ran blindly through the path among the pine trees calling for help. He kept on running unless he stumbled upon the watchman who was holding a lantern in his hand.
SIGNIFICANCE OF PINE FOREST
Mr. Oliver running in that manner surprised the watchman. On hearing everything from Mr. Oliver, the watchman lifted up his lantern to show if the face he had seen was like his own face. The face of the watchman was also featureless. A round shape with no eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. At that very moment, the wind blew and the lantern blew out.
TITLE OF THE STORY A FACE IN THE DARK:
PARAGRAPH 1
The title of Ruskin Bond’s short story A Face In The Dark is very suggestive in itself. This strange mystery-wrapped short story tells about Mr. Oliver, an Anglo-Indian bachelor, teaching in a school at Simla. The day on which the story was set, Mr. Oliver was returning back to his school from the Bazaar of Simla which was three miles away. It was already night and on his way through the pine forest, he saw a boy sitting all alone on a rock and crying with his face buried in his hands.
PARAGRAPH 2
Oliver repeatedly questioned the boy and at last, he looked up. On seeing the face of the boy Mr. Oliver was full of horror. He found that what he thought to be a face was not at all a face in its true sense. The torchlight fell on a smooth and round form without any feature – no eyes, no nose, no ear, and no mouth.
PARAGRAPH 3 of A Face in the Dark
Filled with horror Mr. Oliver ran through the narrow path among the pine forest calling for help unless he stumbled upon the watchman who was holding a lantern in his hand. The watchman on hearing about the faceless boy lifted the lantern up to his face and asked Mr. Oliver if the face of the boy was like his. And the watchman like the boy had a face without eyes, ear, nose, or mouth.
PARAGRAPH 4
Hence, we see in both the instances – the boy, as well as the watchman seemed to have a face while seen in the darkness of the night. But the moment light fell on their faces it was revealed that both were without a face. According to Ruskin Bond, there are various things we see in the dark that may seem irrational and mysterious to us but in the clear light of day, those very mysteries and magic have some explanation for their occurrence.
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Hence, we can say the title of the story, A Face In The Dark very apt, as it makes the readers wonder about the mysteries of human existence and also hints upon the possibility of the existence of another world outside our material world.
THEME OF THE STORY A FACE IN THE DARK :
Supernatural elements in the story, A Face in the Dark :
SIGNIFICANCE OF PINE FOREST
It was once remarked by Ruskin Bond that though he has no belief in the existence of ghosts, he sees them all the time in a bar, in the woods, in a crowd outside a cinema hall. It is quite obvious that super-naturalism will hold a very important position in his stories. He is quite adept in using scary techniques in his short stories related to supernatural themes, sowing the seeds of fear and suspense in the minds of his readers.
SIGNIFICANCE OF PINE FOREST
According to Bond, such types of eerie tales increase the chances of the existence of life outside our material lives. We can also say this to be the aroma of a person who still lives behind after the body has perished.
PARAGRAPH 3
It will not be very incorrect if we say through these supernatural stories Bond attempts to find an outlet for one’s loneliness. It is this loneliness and fear that compels man to imagine the presence of phantoms and other supernatural elements.
PARAGRAPH 4
The short story A Face In The Dark too is full of supernaturalism. Mr. Oliver, the protagonist of the story is described in the beginning as a very rational man who did not give way to nervousness and imagination. It was most probably because of this that he used to walk through the pine forest every night while returning to school from the Bazaar of Simla. And Mr. Oliver was doing this for several years.
PARAGRAPH 5
Now that particular night was dark and stormy. Mr. Oliver was a bachelor and lonely man. . Oliver imagined being a boy without any facial features. Again in the case of the watchman also, imagination played a pivotal role to unnerve Mr. Oliver. Mr. Oliver, who was already scared and nervous seeing the faceless boy, had lost his power of rationalism.
PARAGRAPH 6
Hence, when he saw the lantern’s light falling on the face of the watchman, hallucination reached its peak and showed him something eerie – a face without any facial feature again like the boy.
PARAGRAPH 7 of A Face in the Dark
The ending of the story is ambiguous. It makes the readers ponder whether the boy and the watchman whom Oliver encountered were ghosts or a mischievous student played a prank upon him. It may also be a mere hallucination for which his loneliness is responsible.
